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What is depression and how does psychoanalysis account for it?
Member rating: No Rating | Words: 1477 | Submitted: Sat Sep 15 2007
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WHAT IS DEPRESSION AND HOW DOES PSYCHOANALYSIS ACCOUNT FOR IT? Depression, or 'the depressive position', in psychoanalysis was first proposed by Melanie Klein. Klein observed young children and noted how they experienced acute anxieties. Following these observations Klein proposed a theory of the paranoid-schizoid and depressive positions encountered by children during development. The two positions, although each is a model for all paranoid and all depressive behaviour throughout life, are seen as stages through which children progress even though there can also be regression from the depressive to the paranoid-schizoid position. The relationship between the two positions is a continuous and dynamic one likened by Bion (1963) to a chemical equilibrium. The depressive position is also a psychoanalytical model for adult functioning for a range of states from everyday grief to clinical depression. We will now consider the psychoanalytical basis of this position as accounted by Klein. In order to understand...
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